Proverbs 6:20-7:27 -Corps- November 11 -1981
Publication Date: November 11, 1981
Walter J. Cummins graduated from the Power for Abundant Class in 1962.
He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Education from Ohio State University in 1968 and his Master of Education degree in Secondary School Administration in 1978 from Wright State University.
He was ordained to the Christian by The Way International in 1968. He has studied at The Way International under Victor Paul Wierwille and K.C.Pillai. In addition to his teaching responsibilities, he was director of the Research department of the Way International and served as assistant to the president.
November 11, 1981
Proverbs 6:20-7:27
Rev. Cummins
Now tonight, we’re going to go back to the Book of Proverbs chapter 6 where we left off last week. We finished that one section. And of course in verse 20 we begin another section because it begins with those words “my son”. And the subject I want to treat tonight is the strange woman of Proverbs [laughter]. We get into this section here in Proverbs 6, but there’s a number of other proverbs that tie into the strange woman that we’re going to be picking up. Somebody said this week that a woman is like a piano; either she’s upright or she’s grand [laughter]. I kind of think the women can be both; upright and grand. And we’ll see this in Proverbs. If she’s the other way, she’s not so grand, as we’ll see as we’re working this. In Proverbs chapter 6.
Proverbs 6:20 and 21:
20 My son, keep thy father’s commandment, and forsake not the law of thy mother: 21 Bind them continually…
By the way, it’s the father and mother where the child first begins to learn. And then after that he goes to this particular school where the wise men, as we covered in chapter 1...how the wise men of the time were responsible for teaching the children and then carrying on that education in the Word, like the school of the prophets and so on. Well, here he says don’t forsake those things that your father and mother were responsible for teaching you.
Proverbs 6:21:
Bind them continually upon thine heart, and tie them about thy neck.
Now in our Christian culture some of these words are perhaps a little bit foreign. To bind the Word upon your heart...I think we can see that in a metaphorical sense where you put it in your heart. But there’s a greater significance to this from the Judean culture and the culture of Israel in the Old Testament, that has been carried on to some extent today in modern…among the modern Jewish people. And same way with tying it about your neck. This reflects back on a custom they had, because in the Old Testament culture…and there’s commandments in the Old Testament where they’re told to bind these things on their forehead as well as on their hand. In Matthew chapter 23. Jesus makes reference to this in Matthew chapter 23 and in verse…verse 5 talking about the Pharisees. It says:
Matthew 23:5:
But all their works they do for to be seen of men: [the Pharisees did anything
they could do to be seen of men] they make broad their phylacteries and enlarge the borders of their garments,
Phylacteries are those things that they tie about their head, the Pharisees did it back in this time, the modern Jews do it and in the Old Testament among Israel they were told to bind the Word upon their head and upon their hand. And here Jesus says well they do it just for the show of it, so people see them, so people recognize what they’re doing. And they make big phylacteries, put them on their head, put them on their hand, and boy they look real religious while they’re doing it. Deuteronomy chapter 11, I’ll show you another one here in the Old Testament. Deuteronomy chapter 11, verse 18.
Deuteronomy 11:18a:
Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your [what?] {hand},…
Your hand, your to bind them upon your hand.
Deuteronomy 11:18b: …that they may be as frontlets between your eyes.
See that? On the hand and on the forehead, between your eyes, as frontlets. They would wear these little boxes (is what looked like) that had scripture in them. They were like their retemories. Only today I don’t think they look at them because they’re pretty well bound in. You can’t get them out. But they’re like their retemories. We do this in a similar sense, only we carry them in our pocket over our heart or you carry them in your purse. Where you have your retemories, you carry them around. And then throughout the day, you’re working on memorizing what’s in those retemory packs. So you’ve got the Word not just on the cards, but where? In your heart. See? In your heart. And if they carried them on their forehead, it would be too hard to not think about them once in a while through the day. Or if they had them on their hand, the same way, because you use your hand quite a bit.
Deuteronomy 11:19a: And ye shall teach them…
You don’t just have them there, but you teach them. See?
Deuteronomy 11:19b and 20: 19 …[to] your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. 20 And thou shalt write them upon the door posts of thine house, and upon thy gates:
They also had phylacteries that they would put on the door posts of their house; they do this today sometimes too. “That your…”—This is the reason:
Deuteronomy 11:21: That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth.
In other words to prolong your days, that you may have long days upon the earth. You learn the Word, put the Word in your heart. It gives you that long life. It talks about this in Proverbs too, about giving you long life as you study the Word, put it on in your heart, trust in God and you’re going to have that long life and an abundance of life. In chapter 6 of Deuteronomy. And this one, I think is real significant. We’ll start in verse 4. Says, “Hear, O Israel…” Deuteronomy 6:4.
Deuteronomy 6:4: Hear, O Israel: The LORD [Jehovah] our [Elohim] is one [Jehovah]:
“…the LORD our God is one LORD.” How many? One. Does it say three in one? {No!} It says what? One. These pagans on the other hand had three in one. And 20 and 50 and 100 different gods, many different gods. But we have one LORD. The LORD, our God is one LORD, just one.
Deuteronomy 6:5-7: 5 And thou shalt love the LORD thy God [Jehovah thy Elohim] with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. 6 And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be [where?] in thine heart: 7 And thou shalt teach them…
Teach what? that the Lord our God is one LORD, one Jehovah; not many, not three in one.
Deuteronomy 6:7, 8 7…thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. 8 And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine [what? thine hand, upon your] hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.
Again you have this particular custom where they would keep them right before them,
where they wouldn’t forget God’s Word and more important than having them physically there, was to have them in the heart. To put it in the heart. The context of this one I think is great, that the commandment was that the LORD our God is one LORD and that it comes up in the Book of Proverbs in regards to idolatry, as we’ll see in just a little bit.
In the Way Magazine, the March/April 1972 issue, is an article on Orientalisms of the Bible regarding the talismans and phylacteries. As a matter of fact it has a picture of the wall phylactery and one of the phylacteries that they put on their forehead. And it’s written by Bernita Jess, some of the things that Bishop Pillai taught us. And tonight...I wish all of you could see this...but I have Mark Gluckin here (I’d like you to come out here Mark) and he has an example of these particular phylacteries that they used. [Laughter as Mark enters the room.] “Hi Mark.”
[Mark] Hi; Shalom.
He’s got on his head, for those of you that can’t see it, it’s a box about an inch by an inch tied with a strap, a black strap that goes around the back of his head and this is right—can you see it Mark? It’s on your forehead.
[Mark] Yes.
[Walter] Very easily. [Laughter.] And then on your hand you have another one?
[Mark] Yes.
[Walter] And what is this called?
[Mark] This is called my tepillin. This is what we call them today.
You call them “tepillin” today. They’re called phylacteries in the Bible.
[Mark] Right.
[Walter] And inside of that, underneath you have—
[Mark] In here, are the scriptures.
[Walter] The scriptures are inside of it, underneath the thing.
[Mark] Same thing up top here; and scriptures on the inside.
[Walter] And then you have the shawl over you; I call a shawl. What do you call it?
[Mark]Tallit.
[Walter] This is the tallit. And this is also mentioned in that article in the Way Magazine. And that has scripture on it too. Do you remember what it says?
[Mark] I remember the beginning...[speaks Hebrew].
[Walter] Sounds good [laughter], must be Hebrew. Right?
[Mark] Right.
Okay! Well that’s…does that give you an idea of the phylacteries that it’s talking about? Now what they looked like in the Old Testament may or may not have been similar. They found some from a…you know, in archeological digs and things, but not from that old. [Laughter.] So, what they used exactly in the Old Testament, I don’t know. Thank you Mark. Bless you!
Now, that gives you some idea. For the rest of you, you’ll have to look at the Magazine
article to get some idea of what these things look like but they are very obvious. An inch cube on your forehead, can you imagine that? You couldn’t hardly miss it. It would constantly bring the scriptures to your mind throughout the day if you were wearing it and if it was on the hand that you’re using all the time. You know they wear it on the left hand. And I couldn’t figure that out because the right hand is the right hand of blessing and there must be some more to it. But all we could figure out is that the left hand was closest to the heart or something like that. It might be the reason; I’m not sure. So, in case you were wondering why he had it on his left hand. Alright, now we go back to Proverbs chapter 6. That 20th verse; 21st verse, says:
Proverbs 6:21a: Bind them continually upon thine heart...
And they’re bound upon them, but it’s more important to get them where? In your heart. See? To get them in your heart,
Proverbs 6:21b: …and tie them about thy neck.
Now like I say, here it talks about tying it about your neck. Perhaps they had a different form that hung around the neck in those times, we don’t know today. But whatever it was, it was something like your retemories. It keeps that Word in front of you constantly. Verse 22.
Proverbs 6:22: When thou goest, [she] shall lead thee;…
The word “it” is she. Because it’s referring back to the commandment. The commandment, she. It’s like the word “wisdom”. The word “wisdom” throughout Proverbs is called a she. Remember Proverbs chapter 8 has a lot of it. Where she has builded her house [wisdom]. Her price is far above what? Rubies. See? Her price is far above rubies.
Proverbs 6:22: …she shall lead thee; when thou sleepest, [she] shall keep thee; and when thou awakest [she] shall talk with thee.
Wisdom which is this woman, represented by a woman at different places in the Book of Proverbs. This is the commandment which you keep close to your heart; like your woman you keep close to your heart. Like the scripture that says there’s one God, you keep that close to your heart. See? “The LORD our God is one LORD.”
Proverbs 6:23 and 24:
23 For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light [it lightens your path];
and reproofs of instruction are the way of life: 24 To keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman.
Now “wisdom” is treated as a woman in the Book of Proverbs. Same way worldly wisdom or idolatry, pagan wisdom, is treated as a woman. She’s the strange woman. That’s the context in which it’s used. That’s why I think it’s significant that where it talked about binding them on your forehead and your hands to keep it in front of you, bind it in your heart, in Deuteronomy 6, the context was that there is how many gods? One. The LORD our God is one LORD. Not three in one. Not six, not ten, not 50, not 500, but He’s one. As opposed to the strange woman who represents many gods.
There are two words for “strange” that are used of the woman in the Book of Proverbs. One is zar (spelled Z–A-R). Zar means an apostate or one who has turned away. A believer who has turned to pagan idolatry for example, a woman who has left her husband, one who has turned away from what they were formally with. A zar. That’s why they’re strange. The other word is nakar (spelled N-A-K-A-R); nakar ( N-A-K-A-R) which means a foreigner. She’s a foreign woman who also is idolatrous. She worships strange gods into idolatry. The word zar is used in Deuteronomy 32. I’d like you to look at that, Deuteronomy 32, this word “strange”. Verse 16. Well, look at 15; 32:15.
Deuteronomy 32:15: But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness; then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.
God was his rock. And instead he started worshiping other rocks, you know, idols made out of stone.
Deuteronomy 32:16: They provoked him to jealousy with strange gods
And the word “strange” there is zar, because he was apostate. He had left God to serve these other gods.
Deuteronomy 32:16 and 17: 16 …with abominations provoked they him to anger. 17 They sacrificed unto [what?] devils, not to God; to gods whom they knew not, to new gods that came newly up, whom your fathers feared not.
In Psalms, the Book of Psalms, chapter 81, verse 9.
Psalms 81:9a: There shall no strange god be in thee;…
The word “strange” there is zar.
Psalms 81:9b: …neither shalt thou worship any strange god [nakar].
That word is nakar. Don’t worship any strange god in an apostate sense, where you leave the true God. Neither shalt thou worship any strange, foreign god from another country, in a sense. Both words used together there.
Now this is back in Proverbs chapter 6, the word nakar that is used in verse 24. She’s a foreign woman. And God’s Word, that you keep before your eyes, keep in your heart, you bind it in your heart, put it about your neck...She’s going to keep you, that woman, so to speak, from the strange woman, idolatry, the foreign woman, the one with other gods.
Proverbs 6:25: Lust not after her beauty in thine heart; neither let her take thee with her eyelids.
Very picturesque. And that’s what idolatry does. Whether it’s the trinity or worshiping any other gods today. The same as it was back in the Old Testament times. She takes you with her eyelids, you know, she flaps them around and tries to attract you away from the one true God.
Proverbs 6:26a: For by means of a whorish woman a man is brought to a piece of bread:…
Isn’t that wonderful?
Proverbs 6:26b: …and the adulteress will hunt for the precious life.
Now you see those…that verse does not make just a whole lot of sense. The reason is because the Hebrew as rendered by one of the translations is: a prostitute’s price is a loaf of bread. What’s a loaf of bread? How much is it worth? Not very much. Now, most prostitutes charge more than a loaf of bread. (I don’t speak this by experience. You know, just from what I’ve heard. [Laughter.] Don’t want some of you to get the wrong idea.) But the adulteress is a married woman, a married woman hunts for the precious life. You fool around with a prostitute, it costs you a pi…a loaf of bread compared to what it costs messing around with a married
woman. And keep in mind, the context here is idolatry; following this strange woman as opposed to following wisdom, the commandment of God, the one true God. This married woman will hunt for the precious life. She’s married to other gods. That’s the context…that’s the context of it. And many of these cases compares idolatry to fooling around with a married woman, not with a prostitute, which is much more costly, because the married woman, spiritually speaking, is married to another god or other gods. And if you mess around with the married woman it costs you a lot; not just money, but in terms of your life. Look at verse 27.
Proverbs 6:27 and 28:
27 Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned? 28 Can one go upon hot coals, and his feet not be burned?
You can’t mess around with a married woman.
Proverbs 6:29-31:
29 So he that goeth in to his neighbour’s [what?] wife [his neighbor’s wife]; whosoever toucheth her shall not be innocent. 30 Men do not despise a thief, if he steal to satisfy his soul when he is hungry; 31 But if he be found,…
Same way if you be found messing around with this man’s wife.
Proverbs 6:31 and 32a 31 …he shall restore sevenfold; he shall give all the substance of his house [the thief will]. 32 But [in contrast] whoso committeth adultery with a woman…
Talking about a married woman in the context.
Proverbs 6:32b: …lacketh understanding: he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul.
Now, I’d say, that’s a little more costly than with the prostitute which is, relatively speaking, a loaf of bread. See? Compared to the married woman, a prostitute is a loaf of bread. That’s what it’s saying.
Proverbs 6:33-35a:
33 A wound and dishonour shall he get; and his reproach shall not be wiped away. 34 For jealousy is the rage of a man [the husband]: therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance.
35 He will not regard any ransom;…
You might even try to buy him off with a ransom.
Proverbs 6:35b: …neither will he rest content, though thou givest many gifts.
You might try to pay him off. You might say, look, I’ll write you out a check today for a million dollars. His soul still will not rest because you’ve messed around with his wife. And so when you leave the one true God, and go whoring around with other gods, spiritual adultery or spiritual fornication, then you’ve got some real problems on your hand. You’re taking fire into your bosom, you’re walking on coals. See how it compares this. And it’s the strange woman, which is world wisdom, which is idolatry, compared to the wisdom whose price is far above rubies. The commandment, the Word of God that you bind upon your heart that says, the LORD our God is one LORD rather than worshiping all the other gods.
Chapter 7 goes into another section, but this section also deals with the same “strange” woman. And again it’s a married woman as we’ll see. Starts out:
Proverbs 7:1 and 2: 1 My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee. 2 Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye.
The apple of the eye is the pupil of the eye. How do you guard or keep the pupil of your eye? When something comes toward it, what do you do? Blink. You guard it. If the sun is too bright, what do you do? You squint or close your eyes or turn your head. Or if the room is very dark, what do you do? You try to get more light in to affect your pupils. The law has to be the pupil of your eye and you’re to guard His commandments, His law, His Word like you do your pupils. They’re very delicate. And you keep that law in your heart in that sense.
Proverbs 7:3a: Bind them upon thy fingers,…
There you have it again.
Proverbs 7:3b and 4: 3 …write them upon the table of thine heart. 4 Say unto wisdom, [You are] my sister; and call understanding thy kinswoman:
The reason for this is because in the Eastern culture, it was the women, your sister, your mother, other women of the family that chose your wife for you. It was part of their culture. So,
you say to wisdom, you chose my wife. You’re my sister and call understanding your kinswoman.Why?
Proverbs 7:5a:
That they may keep [you] from the strange woman,…
Now the context here is, binding the Word upon your heart again. Serving the one true God, to keep you from the strange gods. And this word “strange” is zar, apostate woman, a woman who left the one true God, so to speak.
Proverbs 7:5b-7a:
5 ...from the stranger [and that’s nakar, a foreign woman] which flattereth with her words. 6 For at the window of my house I looked through my casement, 7 And beheld among the simple ones…
It means simple; they don’t…they haven’t matured enough to understand. It doesn’t mean they were stupid...just haven’t matured enough to really know all the facts of life.
Proverbs 7:7b:
…I discerned among the youths,...
See. This is to whom the proverbs are addressed: to the simple ones, the youths, those who need to grow up in their understanding.
Proverbs 7:7c, 8:
7 …a young man void of understanding 8 Passing through the street near her corner;…
Sounds just like today doesn’t it.
Proverbs 7:8-10: 8 …and he went the way to her house, 9 In the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night: 10 And, behold, there met him a woman with the attire of an harlot, and subtil of heart.
You see, the harlot is not much different, in practice, than the philosopher or those who teach more than one God, standing on the street corner trying to entice you to worship their gods; to get married to their gods...to whore around with their gods as opposed to the one true God. The Elohim…our Jehovah is one Jehovah…or Jehovah our Elohim is one Jehovah. One
God. Is there much difference? Stop and think about it. You have those that stand on the street corners to get you to go in and lay with them. Then you have those that stand on the street corners to get you to go in and lay with their gods, their “three in one” or whatever.
Proverbs 7:11: (She is loud and stubborn; her feet abide not in her house:
She’s always out sticking her feet in somebody else’s bed.
Proverbs 7:12: Now is she without, now in the streets, and lieth in wait at every corner.)
It’s not only true of the woman, it’s true of those who are promoting their gods.
Proverbs 7:13-15: 13 So she caught him, and kissed him, and with an impudent face said unto him, 14 I have peace offerings with me; this day have I payed my vows. 15 Therefore came I forth to meet thee, diligently to seek thy face, and I have found thee.
It sounds like some promoters of the idolatry today.
Proverbs 7:16-19: 16 I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry, with carved works, with fine linen of Egypt. 17 I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. 18 Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning: let us solace ourselves with loves. 19 For the goodman [the master] is not at home [her husband was not there];...
Married to another. When you stop and think about it. All these idolaters, all the pagan gods, are really married to devil spirits. Behind every statue, there’s a devil spirit. When you’re worshiping the statue, you don’t worship the statue, you worship the spirit that’s behind it. So here she…here it is represented again, the strange woman dealing with that knowledge and wisdom that is contrary to the wisdom of God.
Proverbs 7:19b: ...he is gone a long journey:
He’s not at home….He hath taken a bag…but yet what do you do when you mess around with a married woman. It’s says you are taking fire into your bosom, walking on coals, you are going
to get burned.
Proverbs 7:20-27:
20 He hath taken a bag of money with him, and will come home at the day appointed [he’s going to be gone a long time]. 21 With her much fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she forced him. 22 He goeth after her straightway, as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks; 23 Till a dart strike through his liver; as a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life. 24 Hearken unto me now therefore, O ye children, and attend to the words of my mouth. 25 Let not thine heart decline to her ways, go not astray in her paths. 26 For she hath cast down many wounded: yea, many strong men have been slain by her. 27 Her house is the way [to the grave], going down to the chambers of death.
That is exactly where worshiping other gods and the wisdom of the world, idolatry, leads you; to death and to the grave. This strange woman is also mentioned in chapter 2. We’ll pick up the context in verse 6. Says:
Proverbs 2:6:
For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.
Who gives wisdom? {The LORD.} And she is good wisdom. Then you get to verse 10.
Proverbs 2:10-12:
10 When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul; 11 Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee: 12 To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh [perverse] things;
Then you get to verse 16: “To deliver thee…” First of all wisdom is going to keep you from the perverse man. And the context then…that’s the context.We pick up in 16.
Proverbs 2:16-22 16 To deliver thee from the strange [the zar] woman [the apostate woman, the one who has left her God], even from the stranger [that’s nakar, the foreign woman]
which flattereth with her words; 17 Which forsaketh the guide of her youth, [who] forgetteth the covenant of her God. 18 For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead. 19 None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life. 20 That thou mayest walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous. 21 For the upright shall dwell in the land,…
(There’s one of those pianist.) This is the woman that walks with God or you, as you walk with the true God as opposed to the strange woman, the idolatrous woman or the wisdom of the world, worshiping other gods.
Proverbs 2:21 and 22 21 …the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it. 22 But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it.
In chapter 5, you have again the strange woman presented in the context of wisdom again. “My son…”; chapter 5, verse 1.
Proverbs 5:1 and 2:
1 My son, attend unto my [what?] wisdom, and bow thine ear to my understanding: 2 That thou mayest [guard; regard is “guard”] discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge.
This is what we read in the first part, chapter 1. Remember a couple weeks ago? Attend to wisdom, understanding, discretion, knowledge.
Proverbs 5:3:
For the lips of a strange woman…
Zar, an apostate woman (a believer who has turned to pagan idolatry, one who does not follow the wisdom of God) who turns away from that wisdom whose price is far above rubies; turns to the strange apostate woman.
Proverbs 5:3-6:
3 For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil: 4 But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a twoedged sword.
5 Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell. 6 Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable, that thou canst not know them.
She sneaks around. Very deceptive, those that lead you to idolatry.
Proverbs 5:7 and 8:
7 Hear me now therefore, O ye children, and depart not from the words of my mouth. 8 Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house:
The door of who house…whose house? The apostate woman. Those that are teaching wisdom contrary to the wisdom of God, that want to get you to serve the other gods.
Proverbs 5:9 and 10:
9 Lest thou give thine honour unto others,… 10 Lest strangers [zar, apostates, those who have left the true God] be filled with thy wealth;…
Your money, your wealth ends up in a stranger’s pockets, rather than a believer’s pockets.
Proverbs 5:9:
…and thy labours be in the house of a [nakar];
A foreigner, someone who has always worshiped other gods.
Proverbs 5:10 and 11:
10 And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed, 11 And say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof;
Why didn’t I listen when I went to wisdom school?
Proverbs 5:13a:
And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers,…
Sounds like us when we grew up, after we were…you know, so delinquent when we were young. Why didn’t I listen when my teacher said:
Proverbs 5:13b:
…nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me!
I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly.
Then verse 15 picks up this whole sexual comparison to serving of the one true God and the serving of other gods.
Proverbs 5:15:
Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well.
Drink out of your own wife, spiritually speaking. Let…then it says:
Proverbs 5:16a:
Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad,…
The Hebrew reads: let not thy fountains overflow in public. Very descriptive sexually. Let not…King James is just the opposite of what it says in the Hebrew.
Proverbs 5:16 and 17:
16 Let thy fountains be dispersed [or overflow in public], [as] rivers of waters in the streets. 17 Let them be only thine own [keep your waters in your own house, in your own well], and not strangers’ with thee.
You don’t want to lay with strangers. You don’t want your fountains to overflow in public.
Proverbs 5:18:
Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the [what? the] wife of thy youth.
With your wife. The one you are married to. And spiritually you’re with God. Not…then why go whoring around with other gods, why let your fountain spill in public with the strangers? And the word “strangers” is zar, apostates.
Proverbs 5:18-20:
18 …and rejoice with the wife of thy youth. 19 Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe [or gazelle]; let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; and be thou ravished always with her love. 20 And why wilt thou, my son, be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger?
Isn’t that a beautiful illustration? You stay with your own fountains, you own cisterns. Let your fountain be blessed at home. Don’t let your fountain overflow in public, as rivers of
water in the streets. Be satisfied with your own wife at home, not with strangers. Not with the…and the word “stranger” in verse 20, the strange woman, that’s zar. And the second one “embrace the bosom of [thy] stranger” is nakar. So whether it’s the strange apostate woman or a foreigner, they’re still both worshiping other gods. And God just doesn’t want you to do that. It’s a violation of the first and great commandment. Be satisfied with your God. Why go whoring around and let your rivers overflow in public?
Proverbs 5:21-23:
21 For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and he pondereth all his goings. 22 His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins. 23 He shall die without instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.
It’s interesting, this strange woman back in chapter 2 forsook the covenant of her God too. Just thought of that. She’s a…she’s both an apostate as well as a foreigner. Because once you’re an apostate, you become a foreigner to God. You’re forsaking his covenant. And here you have those that go their own way and their iniquities overtake them because instead of serving the one true God, now they’re whoring around with other gods. They’re whoring around with those that are married to other gods. Just like having fellowship with darkness, communion with darkness, whoring around with other gods.
So you have it in chapter 2, you have it in chapter 5, and then in chapter 6 where we read it and again in chapter 7. In chapter 9 and in verse 13, it doesn’t use the word “strange” but it uses the illustration of the woman. It says:
Proverbs 9:13a: A foolish woman…
Or a woman who has a false sense of confidence, she acts confidence…confident, but it’s a false confidence.
Proverbs 9:13b: …is clamorous:…
And the word “clamorous” means clamorous or loud, like someone that’s drunk is loud, clamorous. You know, they say what they think, but they don’t know what they’re saying. That’s this clamorous woman, foolish, false confidence. See?
Proverbs 9:13c:
…she is simple, and knoweth nothing.
But boy, she’s loud.
Proverbs 9:14 and 15: 14 For she sitteth at the door of her house, on a seat in the high places of the city, 15 To call passengers who go right on their ways:
But she’s out there calling to them, it sounds like some people that believe in more than one God, standing on the street corners, yelling to passersby, “Come and worship our three gods”...or others. See?
Proverbs 9:16-18:
16 Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither: and as for him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him, 17 Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant. 18 But he knoweth not that the dead are there; and that her guests are in the depths of [the grave, sheol, gravedom].
This is the…it doesn’t call her a strange woman, but the illustration is still the same here. Where instead of walking with wisdom, the woman whose price is far above rubies, which is the wisdom of God and wisdom…the beginning of wisdom is what? The fear of the LORD. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom. Fear of God; respect of God is the beginning of knowledge and wisdom. And if you don’t follow the true wisdom of God, then you’re going to end up with the apostate wisdom, the foreign wisdom. First of all it’s those who have turned away from the true God and secondly it’s those who are of a foreign god, your married…whose married to another, other than the true God. Beautiful illustration. And it’s just as subtle, just as deceptive as the strange woman, the woman that entices you. And what do people do today? Oh, they’re real honest, real sincere, even in Christianity, yet they want to promote their three gods. And same way with anybody else who is of any religious nature at all, enticing you with whatever they have to offer. What I love about the Word is it’s beautiful and it’s logical. It’s easy to understand. You can go to God’s Word and study it and it fits. There’s no…no things that you have to accept as a “mystery” [quote, unquote]. “The Mystery” has been revealed so it’s no longer a mystery. God never expected you to believe something you couldn’t understand, so He just didn’t reveal it to you.
But when the time came, He told you what it was. The only reason it was a mystery is because it was kept secret from the foundation of the world. But when it was made known, then you knew what it was, you know: Jew and Gentile, fellow-heirs and so on. But what they call mysteries are things that…the reason they are mysteries, you can’t understand them today. Why they call them sacraments. Things that you can’t…you just do it. The blind lead the blind, they
both fall into the ditch. So it is following this type of wisdom as opposed to God’s wisdom. The wisdom of the world versus the wisdom of the Word. And here is this foolish loud woman out on the street corners yelling, promoting her wares, the same thing. The strange woman is found a couple of other places. This is just mentioned briefly in chapter 22, in verse 14.
Proverbs 22:14: The mouth of [a] strange [woman]…
That’s the word zar, apos…“strange women”; zar, apostate women, those who have forsaken their God and who have turned to idolatry.
Proverbs 22:14: …is a deep pit: he that is abhorred of the LORD shall fall therein.
Fall…if you abhor the…you know, if you go away from God what is going to happen? You’re going to fall into this pit of woman…of the strange woman which is pagan idolatry, pagan wisdom, worldly wisdom. It is used again in chapter 23, in verse 27.
Proverbs 23:27: For a whore is a deep ditch; and a strange woman is a narrow pit.
The strange woman is nakar, a foreign woman is a narrow pit; again, to draw you away from the true God.
Proverbs 23:28-33: 28 She also lieth in wait as for a prey, and increaseth the transgressors among men. 29 Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes? 30 They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine. 31 Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. 32 At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder. 33 Thine eyes shall behold strange women [zar], and thine heart shall utter perverse things.
Apostate women. This pit, the deep ditch and the narrow pit, something interesting on that in a certain writing by Maundrell, who described a passage way out of a certain location in the East. He says:
They descended into a low valley, at the bottom of which is a fissure into the
earth of a great depth; but withal so narrow, that it is not discernable to the eye until you arrive just upon it, though to the ear, notice is given to it at a great distance, by reason of a noise of a stream running down into it from the hills. We could not guess it to be less than thirty yards deep, but it is so narrow that a small arch not four yards over, lands you on the other side. They call it “the sheik’s wife”; a name given it from a woman of that quality who fell into it and perished.
The reason is because she didn’t see it. You’re walking along, it’s very narrow, it’s very deep and you can’t see it until you’re almost upon it. And if you’re not caref…you can hear it but you can’t see it, like the loud woman. You can hear her. She’s loud and clamorous, but she’s a deep ditch, a narrow pit. And you don’t see…catch it until you’re right upon her. See? The same way with the wisdom of the world. Another thing we found about pits is that: In the East, until recent days, pits were common in cities and villages and in some countries they’re still in use. Pits were used to store wheat and other grain supplies.When the grain was used up, the pits were left open to be filled again during wheat harvest. These pits were dangerous during the dark hours and both men and animals sometimes fell into them. The Hebrew prophets and Jesus used them metamorphically meaning traps, that is, evil devices. Jesus said, “When the blind leads the blind both of them fall into the pit.” Well if you’ve got an empty wheat pit out there in the middle of the field and you’re walking along, it’s dark at night, or somebody is blind, the blind leading the blind, what’s going to happen? You fall into the pit. And if you’re not conscious of God’s Word and keep that Word in front of your eyes constantly you’re going to be drawn away by this strange woman, this other philosophy, this other wisdom of the world, which is idolatry. It gets you to worship more than one God, and you will fall into that pit. Because you don’t have your eyes open or you’re not listening to the sounds of the river nearby.
I found this in the Anchor Bible regarding these sections in Proverbs about wisdom. “Since wisdom is correlated throughout with reverence for the Lord, by inference, the adulteress represents both folly and the seductive way of life associated with pagan religion.” That’s exactly what it is in the context. The strange woman or the adulteress represents folly and the seductive way of life associated with pagan religion, idolatry, worshiping other gods. “The figure of marital unfaithfulness for the lapse of Israel into idolatry is familiar from the writings of the Prophets.” You might want to check Hosea, the first three chapters and Jeremiah chapters two and three. “The figure was particularly appropriate because of the practice of cultic prostitution associated with Canaanite religion.” Which was true of a lot of other religion too...that there’s a lot of prostitution associated with the religions, like in Corinth, they had a thousand whores on top of the hill that did worship to their gods. “Here in Proverbs also, the stern warning against adultery, has in view, not only the looser morals of the foreign or non-Jewish members of the community, but specifically the offering of themselves by female devotees of the Astarte or similar cult.” You’ve heard of Astarte in pagan worship. And again it’s used chiefly of married women because…they mention this too…it’s used chiefly of
married women because of the comparison between serving the one true God and whoring around with a god…or someone that’s married with another god. Pagan idolatry, in other words. And you see that throughout these different records in the Book of Proverbs. Now that the strange woman. But it tells us in Corinthians, that we’re not to keep fellowship with darkness. Our fellowship is to be with God and with His Son Jesus Christ. We’re to worship the one true God. The first and great commandment is to love God. Right? See? We worship the one true God and violating that first and great commandment of worshiping God is the one thing that turned God off, so to speak, in the Old Testament. Whenever Israel did things wrong, God put up with a lot of it but whenever they started worshiping other gods, pagan gods (Other than the one true God and a lot of it was three-in-one worship. And when you trace this back to the origin of the trinity.) that’s what really upset God and what caused Israel to go into captivity so many times. And why the encouragement in the Book of Proverbs is to worship the one true God. To bind His Word upon your heart. Keep it in your heart, in your life, put it in the front of your eyes so that you don’t forget it. See.
Why…why we have four books (and at least three of them…ah, four of them)—are absolutely the most misunderstood things in the world: Jesus Christ is Not God - Are the Dead Alive Now? - Receiving the Holy Spirit Today and Jesus Christ Our Passover. So many things misunderstood in the world and that is where idolatrous worship leads you. Most people don’t care about the accuracy of God’s Word and beyond that trinity is the corner stone of [quote, unquote] “Christianity” but not [quote, unquote] “real Christianity” . We’re nter…in here to learn what the Word has to say, the wisdom that God has to offer and it’s to serve the one true God and not to be enticed. And Satan does everything he can to entice you away from the worship of the one true God. That’s the one thing that he will really hit us on to try to get us, to persuade us, to do anything but serve the one true God. And why there is so much time dwelt upon it in teaching the youth in the Book of Proverbs, to stay in the wisdom of God. Because it’s just like that woman down on the street corner who pulls up her slip and says come into my house. So there’s others standing out on the street corners saying come and worship my gods and very deceptive, but yet that’s one of the things we have to teach our youth and which we’ve got to learn ourselves and keep constantly in front of our eyes, upon our hands, to bind it in our hearts, that nothing can tear us away from God, that we can maintain that worship of the one true God. Okay!
[Prayer] Well, Father, we thank you for the greatness of your Word and the reality of your Word living in our hearts and lives that we can know you and know your Son Jesus Christ and be able to walk with you and fellowship with you and with your Son in this day and time. And Father, that nothing can sway us from the greatness of your Word and from the greatness of this worship of you. Because Father there’s no greater life than we have as we keep your Word hidden in our hearts and lives. And we thank you tonight again for the Corps on our campuses and all over the country and around the world and for Dr. Wierwille and for the Board of Trustees, and all those who work together, Father, to see your Word move out over the
world. Thank you Father in the name of your Son Jesus Christ. Amen!
Good night and God bless you!